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We all know about the decrease in moving parts and number of parts in general about EV vs ICE vehicles. One thing that is very costly are luxury vehicles where dealers demand even more "check this" and "check that" without actually doing anything. But also, the mid-range and higher-end luxury cars parts are very expensive when they do fail - and they frequently do around 80-100k miles on Audis, BMWs, Mercedes, Volvos etc vs Honda/Toyota/Lexus/Acura.
Got quite a few family and friends who own the Tesla Model X and Model S and they love them. I know online "reports" say they are unreliable, but from what I've seen, it's mainly computer problems and some hardware issues that were fixable and not costly. Most of the Model X and S owners say, "I hardly do any maintenance on these that I feel like I'm doing something wrong!"
Mercedes is coming out with their EQS sedan/SUV and BMW with their EV cars and SUVS, but I'm not so sure they will be less costly than a Tesla for maintenance. Already seeing some maintenance schedules for the Mercedes EQS where they want you to come to the dealer for a "check" so frequently.
And this brings up all of these other new American manufacturers and how reliable they will be, like Fiskar, Rivian etc.
Basically, there are many people who are willing to pay a good amount for a luxury car but don't think it's worth it due to high maintenance costs and reliability issues. Its like why buy an expensive Range Rover when you are worrying about break-down costs? A Lexus LX is much more worth it in that regard (even though boring).
A side note, my good friend is service advisor at Porsche dealer I use. Once the Taycan came out, I mentioned this is the beginning of the ending of his job and he agreed. He should really do his research and walk to Tesla dealer nextdoor and talk to service advisor there about their job because his is going to become it. Same thing with head mechanic whom is also a friend of mine, he should go chat with Tesla ones to see what his job will become.
I am curious what the scheduled service for Tesla or other EVs look like. That's the only objective measure of how low the maintenance claims care.
Tesla does not require annual maintenance or regular fluid changes - recommends only periodic, as-needed servicing of brake fluid, pads, and calipers, filters, and air conditioning. The first real service is the A/C desiccant bag replacement every 6 years. They used to recommend annual inspections but they were not required.
Our 2015 LEAF has nothing but inspections, tire rotations, cabin filter and brake fluid replacements for the first 15 years. The recommended service interval of the factory-fill coolant is 125,000 miles (200,000 km) or 15 years, whichever comes first.
The only services I have done with our EVs (S, 3, X and Leaf) is to change tires, remote control battery and wiper blades. The only other cost was replacing a wiring harness that was chewed by rodents - total cost $280 parts and labor, done in the driveway by Tesla service.
Why would you maintain a Tesla if nobody in her right mind will buy it used out-of-warranty?
When there will be cheap replacement batteries people may buy them.
Why would you maintain a Tesla if nobody in her right mind will buy it used out-of-warranty?
When there will be cheap replacement batteries people may buy them.
All of this remains to be seen. Here's the following factors that I think are relevant to most long-term owners: reliability, maintenance, cost, longevity, and obsolescence.
Reliability - no one enjoys a breakdown or the inability to start the vehicle when you need to go. So far reliability for most EVs have been pretty good. Tesla has had issues with control arm links breaking (poor design), MCU1 eMMC chips failing (poor design), Falcon doors, retractable door handles, early drive unit bearings noise, early battery fires, etc. Generally every EV starts to act up when the 12V auxillary battery fades. The key here is to improve on the design flaws and anticipate them before production.
Maintenance - Most EVs are incredibly low on maintenance. Aside from brake fluid flushes in wet regions, there aren't a lot moving parts that need serviceable wear items or fluids.
Cost - The cost of parts is a function of volume of demand and supply, the complexity of design, and the input cost of materials. Battery packs are going to be expensive because there isn't a mass supply of off-the-shelf packs. Most packs are being used to produce new vehicles and so there just aren't very many new packs available hence the high price and often times a required core-swap of the existing battery pack. Until parts become interchangeable or highly available, replacement part costs will remain high.
Longevity - No one is certain how far each EV model is expected to go but there have been plenty that have seen over 10yrs/200K miles without any major repairs (>$2K). Most liquid-cooled battery packs have about 3-5% degradation over the first two years with each successive year degrading at a slower rate. Time will tell based on the fleet of vehicles out there when each item should be expected to fail such as the drive unit/motor, inverter, battery pack, charging equipment, controller, transmission, etc.
Obsolescence - No one wants something that is useless much less shell out a big sum of coin for something that will useless shorter than they expected. Early passively-cooled batteries showed pretty fast degradation, especially in high heat regions. The motors and other components appear to be just fine, but it has been disappointing for many 1st gen Leaf owners to see the rapidly declining range of their vehicles. Still even a 40mi range vehicle is good enough for an errand car or would be a full day of fun on a small island or metro area. As original utility declines, these vehicles will need to find a compromised usefulness.
As for what I expect? European automakers tend to have overly complicated designed parts (oil cooler lines, integrated sensors, etc) and poor electrical solders in the relays. I wouldn't buy a Euro-made EV for a few years to see how well made the components are. I would also drift towards the manufacturer that has the most aftermarket support, DIY-friendly, and open source software. Proprietary tools and software that can't be rooted or jailbreaked is a no-go for me.
My sons have S and Y. S is eating tires at VERY fast rate. That's about it. And, same S has something that needs to be replaced in suspension under warranty, part, son is waiting on for several months already.
Why would you maintain a Tesla if nobody in her right mind will buy it used out-of-warranty?
When there will be cheap replacement batteries people may buy them.
Imagine the used car lots years from now full of EV's. It will all come down to the life or lack of it, left in the battery. I can already hear the salesmen pitch. Or buy '' as is '' and take a chance, a huge chance.
Why would you maintain a Tesla if nobody in her right mind will buy it used out-of-warranty?
When there will be cheap replacement batteries people may buy them.
The Tesla batteries are expected to last the life of the vehicle - there are already ones with well over 250K miles on the original one. Also the battery warranty is 8 years under federal regulations so many used ones will still have a significant warranty left when sold as used.
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